A nice relaxed morning and enjoyed Countryfile. It was good to see my friend Guy Wallbanks interviewed in Whitby about how to have an ethical St Valentine's Day. Then I enjoyed Gardeners Question Time. I spent lots of time peeling dozens and dozens of lychees, which were unsaleable as they have some little patches of mould on the outer skin. But when this shell is peeled off, the fruit within is absolutely fine... so did loads, then peeled the fruit off the stone, and liquidised this fruit pulp with some apples to make a wonderful juice. I'll convert some of this into fruit leather, but we had some nice perfumed juice drink with our evening meal...
Mid afternoon went for a cycle with my eldest lad. He had some homework to do, making a virtual tour of York, so we went with Gill's camera down to Heslington to get photos of his school, the park, Heslington Hall and parts of the University. He decided where to take the pics, I took him to the places he wanted to see.
Then we went down to Country Fresh and got some bananas and tomatoes, plus recycling, and then on to Freshways where one of the guys offered my son some bananas and he was unsure whether to take them... he's not used to the generosity that shop-owners display to me, their volunteer recycler!
Pizza for tea and then I took some lychees up to Wendy in part payment for the exercise bike... I sorted out a couple of dozen with minimal mould on, and she was happy with these.
Bathed both the boys in stove-water and a very peaceful evening.
Showing posts with label water heated on stove. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water heated on stove. Show all posts
Another poor start to the morning... Gill woke me gently getting back into bed, having got one boyo happily ensconced on his prefered computer game, and the other seemingly happily playing on the Wii, which he likes. We do not wan t them to sit together on the big computer because of yesterdays difficulties. Gill had come back to bed for a lie-in.
However, the child on the Wii wasn't doing as well as he had done previously and started wailing. Gill went downstairs to see what was wrongd told him that today he wasn't allowed to go and watch his brother, but WAS allowed to continue with the Wii. A severe case of 'grass being greener on the other side' then ensued, with maximum volume. Gill tried to ignore it and came back to bed, and explained the situation to me.
However, the 'mortally wounded' child came upstairs and proceeded to wail outside our door, which rather put paid to any lie-in or anything!
Is childhood always this difficult? Is parenting always this difficult? Well, no, sometimes it is much easier for both chld and parent, but this morning was a low pont for two parents and one child. The child in the other room with the more desirable computer game didn't even register there'd been a problem!
So, I came downstairs and put some hot water on the washing up (Gill had lit the stove on the embers from last night) and watched Countryfile, which was mainly a re-run of several previous clips.
Lots of housework today, and mid afternoon, a cycle down to Country Fresh to pick up just one sack of compostables and took it to the allotment, where I spent an hour or just more chopping back the ever vigorous brambles and piling yet another series of layers on the compost heap. Also cut back a large woody shrub just behind the noticeboard which is on the edge of my plot, dug some grassy lumps and turned them over, and chatted to a nice lady called Sue who's partner Jerry or Gerry went to the Solar buyers club last month. I really love being on the allotment.. it's not hugely productive and I'm not mega-organised, but it's a lovely place to be and, well, just mess around. I'll plant some broad bean in soon. I got six packets from Barnitts last month.
Arrived back as it grew dark, at about half four and had some chats with the child who has homework to finish, constructing a questionnaire about 'The News' and how different people receive it, what they think about it, etc. He finished writing it out in neat, and asked all the family members the questions. With help, he rang up various other people (mainly his own age) and got their responses.
We all watched 'You've Been Framed' whilst eating tea... the boys had baked potatoes with stir fry veg/nuts and we had the stir fry with rice. Very tasty.
Later, I half-watched Swarm and tried to get into the mood to do some writing... but I'm just not really feeling like it. This daily diary-account is just about the most I can get myself to do at the moment... and I've a paid blog post to do, my book to keep on with and a column due in at the end of the month...
However, the child on the Wii wasn't doing as well as he had done previously and started wailing. Gill went downstairs to see what was wrongd told him that today he wasn't allowed to go and watch his brother, but WAS allowed to continue with the Wii. A severe case of 'grass being greener on the other side' then ensued, with maximum volume. Gill tried to ignore it and came back to bed, and explained the situation to me.
However, the 'mortally wounded' child came upstairs and proceeded to wail outside our door, which rather put paid to any lie-in or anything!
Is childhood always this difficult? Is parenting always this difficult? Well, no, sometimes it is much easier for both chld and parent, but this morning was a low pont for two parents and one child. The child in the other room with the more desirable computer game didn't even register there'd been a problem!
So, I came downstairs and put some hot water on the washing up (Gill had lit the stove on the embers from last night) and watched Countryfile, which was mainly a re-run of several previous clips.
Lots of housework today, and mid afternoon, a cycle down to Country Fresh to pick up just one sack of compostables and took it to the allotment, where I spent an hour or just more chopping back the ever vigorous brambles and piling yet another series of layers on the compost heap. Also cut back a large woody shrub just behind the noticeboard which is on the edge of my plot, dug some grassy lumps and turned them over, and chatted to a nice lady called Sue who's partner Jerry or Gerry went to the Solar buyers club last month. I really love being on the allotment.. it's not hugely productive and I'm not mega-organised, but it's a lovely place to be and, well, just mess around. I'll plant some broad bean in soon. I got six packets from Barnitts last month.
Arrived back as it grew dark, at about half four and had some chats with the child who has homework to finish, constructing a questionnaire about 'The News' and how different people receive it, what they think about it, etc. He finished writing it out in neat, and asked all the family members the questions. With help, he rang up various other people (mainly his own age) and got their responses.
We all watched 'You've Been Framed' whilst eating tea... the boys had baked potatoes with stir fry veg/nuts and we had the stir fry with rice. Very tasty.
Later, I half-watched Swarm and tried to get into the mood to do some writing... but I'm just not really feeling like it. This daily diary-account is just about the most I can get myself to do at the moment... and I've a paid blog post to do, my book to keep on with and a column due in at the end of the month...
Gill took our eldest down towards school quite early this morning as he was being picked up by a friend who also has a 'gifted and talented' child who has been invited to attend a 4 day summer school for the aforesaid 'gifted and talented' year 6 children.
I had a slow start but at midday got up properly and did more work in the garden. I lit the stove (perhaps not understandable on such a hot day, but our boiler has broken) and after an hour had enough hot water to do all of yesterday's washing up. Our youngest spent quite a lot of the day singing to himself which was nice to hear..
Our boy came back very happy but tired. So glad he's had a good time.
I made tea for the family again after a quick trip to the supermarket and Country Fresh... baked butternut, potato, and stuffing lumps baked 'til crispy... with salad from the garden.
Did some compost riddling and then at 8 my buddy Phil arrived and we had drinks and chats and half an hour in the garden finishing off the riddling.
I had a slow start but at midday got up properly and did more work in the garden. I lit the stove (perhaps not understandable on such a hot day, but our boiler has broken) and after an hour had enough hot water to do all of yesterday's washing up. Our youngest spent quite a lot of the day singing to himself which was nice to hear..
Our boy came back very happy but tired. So glad he's had a good time.
I made tea for the family again after a quick trip to the supermarket and Country Fresh... baked butternut, potato, and stuffing lumps baked 'til crispy... with salad from the garden.
Did some compost riddling and then at 8 my buddy Phil arrived and we had drinks and chats and half an hour in the garden finishing off the riddling.
Very groggy this morning but came down to let the children wish me a happy birthday. Gill took them to school and I went back to bed and read NewScientist for an hour whilst thinking about various other things.
Came down to do some computery stuff and then at 11 our visitors came... two of the three facilitators of the parenting course. The course has officially finished but both of us missed a couple of sessions so to round things off they offered to come and spend a couple of hours with us to recap some of the techniques.
They had a tour of the garden and then we chatted together for a couple of hours, leaving at 1.30, having had a good in-depth conversation. They were pleased that we have obviously made some progress and our difficulties are reducing as our son learns to deal with his emotions better. So they went, I cut up some sticks from Anna's house and then at 3 went to school to bring back 3 boys, two of which were taken to Martial Arts by Gilly.
I continued in the garden until tea... Gill had made a quiche with a Shiitake mushroom grown on an oak log in our back garden, totally delicious! It was even better as we all ate together and we all got on well!!! The cake she burnt last night she made into a trifle with banana and chocolate goo... much better than a cake!
Did more in the garden til 9.30pm, came in tired but happy, kissed the boys goodnight and had a shower to get the anti-midge stuff off, as Gill cannot stand the smell...
A quiet evening with some telly and lots of chats on the computer, and lit the stove to do the washing up.
Came down to do some computery stuff and then at 11 our visitors came... two of the three facilitators of the parenting course. The course has officially finished but both of us missed a couple of sessions so to round things off they offered to come and spend a couple of hours with us to recap some of the techniques.
They had a tour of the garden and then we chatted together for a couple of hours, leaving at 1.30, having had a good in-depth conversation. They were pleased that we have obviously made some progress and our difficulties are reducing as our son learns to deal with his emotions better. So they went, I cut up some sticks from Anna's house and then at 3 went to school to bring back 3 boys, two of which were taken to Martial Arts by Gilly.
I continued in the garden until tea... Gill had made a quiche with a Shiitake mushroom grown on an oak log in our back garden, totally delicious! It was even better as we all ate together and we all got on well!!! The cake she burnt last night she made into a trifle with banana and chocolate goo... much better than a cake!
Did more in the garden til 9.30pm, came in tired but happy, kissed the boys goodnight and had a shower to get the anti-midge stuff off, as Gill cannot stand the smell...
A quiet evening with some telly and lots of chats on the computer, and lit the stove to do the washing up.
A very peaceful start to the day.
The day continued peacefully.
I half-watched Countryfile whilst doing a huge pile of washing up, the only complaints were that I'd made the living room too hot by lighting the stove to get washing up water.... but not a problem. I'd rather light the stove and burn a kilo of waste wood to get some hot water than put on the gas for a few minutes.... and it helps dry the bananas which are sitting on the wok-stand on top of the two-gallon pan.
I had an early lunch and set off with my eldest son to Rowntree Park to attend the York Rotters Worm Charming contest, with Gill and our youngest following on afterwards. I helped set up the grid of 16 squares 2m x 2m on the grass, and entrants started registering, including our two boys. I did some announcing with my loud voice and soon the event was underway.
Gill and I joined in with our boys attempts to get worms out of the soil and we got four by the end of the 15 minutes allotted time. However, a minute later, I spotted another one and I didn't stop to think and popped it into the pot. When the adjudicator counted the worms, our team was in equal first place with 5 worms. So there was a 'charm-off' with the two top teams going back to their plots and the first team to charm a worm was the winner. Gill and I encouraged ours to do lots of jumping up and down, and suddenly, there was the winning worm...
So they walked away with their prize, a 'Junior Wormery' by Original Organics, and I cycled it home. However, I had a niggly thought that I had cheated by putting in a charmed worm after the time had passed... and I shared my feelings with my eldest who has a keen sense of fair play and honesty, and I admitted to my wrongdoing. We decided that the best thing to do would be to tell Catherine the Rotters project manager, and to give the wormery prize back so it could go to the real winners. I offered to give one of my wormeries to the boys as a consolation, as I have three different types. This made me feel better. I blame my lack of impulse control and lack of 'thinking of consequenses', both of which I am aware of when I stop and think.
In the evening I came accross a good blog http://gco2e.blogspot.com/ which is worth reading if interested in carbon footprints etc.
The day continued peacefully.
I half-watched Countryfile whilst doing a huge pile of washing up, the only complaints were that I'd made the living room too hot by lighting the stove to get washing up water.... but not a problem. I'd rather light the stove and burn a kilo of waste wood to get some hot water than put on the gas for a few minutes.... and it helps dry the bananas which are sitting on the wok-stand on top of the two-gallon pan.
I had an early lunch and set off with my eldest son to Rowntree Park to attend the York Rotters Worm Charming contest, with Gill and our youngest following on afterwards. I helped set up the grid of 16 squares 2m x 2m on the grass, and entrants started registering, including our two boys. I did some announcing with my loud voice and soon the event was underway.
Gill and I joined in with our boys attempts to get worms out of the soil and we got four by the end of the 15 minutes allotted time. However, a minute later, I spotted another one and I didn't stop to think and popped it into the pot. When the adjudicator counted the worms, our team was in equal first place with 5 worms. So there was a 'charm-off' with the two top teams going back to their plots and the first team to charm a worm was the winner. Gill and I encouraged ours to do lots of jumping up and down, and suddenly, there was the winning worm...
So they walked away with their prize, a 'Junior Wormery' by Original Organics, and I cycled it home. However, I had a niggly thought that I had cheated by putting in a charmed worm after the time had passed... and I shared my feelings with my eldest who has a keen sense of fair play and honesty, and I admitted to my wrongdoing. We decided that the best thing to do would be to tell Catherine the Rotters project manager, and to give the wormery prize back so it could go to the real winners. I offered to give one of my wormeries to the boys as a consolation, as I have three different types. This made me feel better. I blame my lack of impulse control and lack of 'thinking of consequenses', both of which I am aware of when I stop and think.
In the evening I came accross a good blog http://gco2e.blogspot.com/ which is worth reading if interested in carbon footprints etc.
A bit of a hectic morning as Gill took the boys to school and got waylaid by several other mums, came back quite late and whilst was getting on just doing what she normally does, remembered that she had a dental appointment at 10! So she rang for a taxi, I rang her dentist apologising for her probably being late, and she went. Amazingly, she was only 3 mins late and as they were running later still, it didn't matter.
I did things in the house, blanched grapes, washed up. Put grapes in non-stick tin to dry them, chopped up about 15 waste apples and put those to dry on a cake rack.
Had the soup for tea.
I did things in the house, blanched grapes, washed up. Put grapes in non-stick tin to dry them, chopped up about 15 waste apples and put those to dry on a cake rack.
Had the soup for tea.
A funny mix of a day... up early as boys noise, but then went back to bed after breakfast and read NewScientist for an hour. The boys have homework to do and this is causing them stress, so there were tears and tantrums, but not too bad. Nothing we haven't experienced in bucketloads already.
Before lunch I spent an hour or more in the garden, turning a heap and sorting out plastic bags, harvesting worms from them and innocculating a tumbler to help speed things up. Came up the garden with an enormous sack of waste plastic and bits and bobs. Gill was impressed!
Late lunch, Gill went to town and I lit the stove so I could wash up. Had to ban my youngest from the computer in the loft as he had repeatedly ignored warnings to stop playing on the train simulator and get on with his homework. He's banned from using it for a week... not my rule, but Gill's, although I had to tell him, as Gill had escaped.
It was a relatively quiet day and when Gill came back some of the homework had been done.
During the evening I finally got my questionnaire sorted out, for my book.
If you want to fill in my questionnaire, please go to
http://www.thesistools.com/?qid=49233&ln=eng
thank you! It is for people who have given up using Cannabis and those who still use but have tried to give up.
Before lunch I spent an hour or more in the garden, turning a heap and sorting out plastic bags, harvesting worms from them and innocculating a tumbler to help speed things up. Came up the garden with an enormous sack of waste plastic and bits and bobs. Gill was impressed!
Late lunch, Gill went to town and I lit the stove so I could wash up. Had to ban my youngest from the computer in the loft as he had repeatedly ignored warnings to stop playing on the train simulator and get on with his homework. He's banned from using it for a week... not my rule, but Gill's, although I had to tell him, as Gill had escaped.
It was a relatively quiet day and when Gill came back some of the homework had been done.
During the evening I finally got my questionnaire sorted out, for my book.
If you want to fill in my questionnaire, please go to
http://www.thesistools.com/?qid=49233&ln=eng
thank you! It is for people who have given up using Cannabis and those who still use but have tried to give up.
